Bill MaxwellBy cooperating with police, blacks could make communities saferPolice and witnesses say that on April 24, 16-year-old Antoine Jones shot seven youths at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. As of this writing, the 11-year-old boy who was shot in the head remains in critical condition, kept alive on life support so his organs can be donated.

Robyn E. BlumnerUniversities tout diversity, then muzzle free speechOne of the most potent criticisms about an academic world awash in political correctness is that it produces weak, whiney people with hair-trigger sensitivity who don't allow anything to slide off their backs.

Philip GaileyRepublican Legislature is a danger to our stateNow that Elian has been reunited with his Cuban father, Floridians need to shift their attention to something more frightening than the federal raid that wrested the little boy from his dysfunctional Miami relatives. In case you haven't noticed, the Florida Legislature is still in session. Lawmakers are not armed, but they should be considered dangerous. Their agenda is nothing less than a Contract on Florida.

Martin DyckmanParimutuels may make yet another wagerThree times -- in 1978, 1986 and 1994 -- the people of Florida have voted overwhelmingly against casino gambling, and the failure of the third initiative, which cost its promoters $16.6-million for a puny 38 percent share of the vote, was supposed to be the end of it.

EditorialsA cautious choice
As Pinellas County moves toward changing the way it assigns students to its schools, public acceptance remains a key to the success of any plan.